CLARENCE CHATTERBOX: Password fatigue spurs new technology

Updating passwords can be annoying, is there a better way?

Changing a work password can be a frustrating ordeal.

SITTING down at my desk on a Monday morning, trying to get my head in the game with a bucket of coffee, I fire up my computer. After 10 minutes of watching the little white wheel go around and Windows asking me to "please wait", I log on, or so I thought.

It is that time of the month to change my password. Making the smallest change so as not to forget, I update my password that allows me to access the system. This sets off a chain of events that has me updating passwords in all kinds of places for the next 30 minutes. Jumping from screen to screen all requesting password authentication, codes text to my mobile, and matching numbers from an app. It's Monday morning. All I want to do is read the news and check Facebook until at least mid-morning and let the fog of the weekend lift from my brain.

Passwords have become a necessity of our times. Security experts encourage us to use a different password for anything that we must access but it is just so overwhelming. Accessing internet banking, super fund, email, health insurance, Netflix, iTunes, myGov, Flybuys, Telstra, Spotify, Facebook, online electricity accounts, water accounts, accessing your smart phone, iPad, credit cards, Eftpos cards, online shopping (multiple passwords for multiple sites). This is just to name a few.

Companies the world over are looking into alternative means of security and identification verification. Some of the ideas being touted as the answer to living a password free life include selfies, where consumers would be asked to snap a picture of themselves blinking into their smart phone.

What about edible pills, where after mixing with stomach acids the pill would emit a low power signal to your PC allowing you to access your data? A gastro bug could see you locked out of your system for days.

Tattoos, your voice and fingerprint technology have also been considered as a replacement to those forgettable passwords but scientists in Japan are really trying to get to the bottom of things by experimenting with the contours of your backside as a security measure.

Leaving the world behind they are exploring whether special seat mats could be used as a means of identification. Not sure how they are planning on catering for weight gain or loss or the effects of gravity as we age.

Let's hope it isn't one size fits all.

Originally published as CLARENCE CHATTERBOX: Password fatigue spurs new technology